How much would you like to bet this isn't about Child Porn? It will be the Cons keeping a tabs on any Canadian they deem to be a threat against them in the guise of "suspected of obtaining Child Pornography"

Mr. Toews will introduce Lawful Access legislation, as it is commonly called, into the House of Commons Tuesday. Previous versions of the bill failed to make it through minority parliaments, but now that the Conservatives have a majority it is almost certain to pass.

The bill will require Internet service providers to store and to make available to the government and police forces information on the Internet activity of their customers.

Police will require a warrant to obtain that information. But the bill would also permit them to obtain IP addresses (which identifies someone on the Internet), email addresses, mobile phone numbers and other information without any warrant.

Ann Cavoukian, Ontario’s privacy watchdog, is fiercely opposed to the legislation, which she calls “surveillance by design.” Federal Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart and other provincial privacy commissioners have also raised concerns.

But when Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia attacked the Conservatives for “preparing to read Canadians' emails and track their movements through cellphone signals” – which does appear to be a severe distortion of the bill’s powers – Mr. Toews’s counterattack was fierce.

“As technology evolves, many criminal activities, such as the distribution of child pornography, become much easier,” he told the House. “We are proposing to bring measures to bring our laws into the 21st century and to provide police with the lawful tools that they need.

“He can either stand with us or with the child pornographers.”

During the 2004 election campaign, the Conservatives issued and then quickly withdrew a press release suggesting then-prime minister Paul Martin supports child pornography because his government wasn’t, in the eyes of Conservatives, sufficiently tough on crime.When confronted by reporters, Mr. Harper refused to back down. “I'm not going to, in any way, give the Liberal Party any break in its record on child pornography,” the Conservative Leader maintained. “It is disgraceful, they have had multiple opportunities to do something about it, and they have refused.”

Mr. Martin leapt at the gaffe. “Look, this is personal. I am a father and I am a husband, and he has crossed the line. He should apologize,” he maintained. Many observers credit the exchange with a last-minute surge that returned the Liberals to office in a minority government.

Now, it would appear, the Conservatives are once again lumping opponents of their law-and-order program in with pedophiles and pornographers.

Ms. Stoddart and Ms. Cavoukian have indicated they will wait to see the legislation Tuesday before offering comment.

How much would you like to bet this isn't about Child Porn? It will be the Cons keeping a tabs on any Canadian they deem to be a threat against them in the guise of "suspected of obtaining Child Pornography"

Mr. Toews will introduce Lawful Access legislation, as it is commonly called, into the House of Commons Tuesday. Previous versions of the bill failed to make it through minority parliaments, but now that the Conservatives have a majority it is almost certain to pass.

The bill will require Internet service providers to store and to make available to the government and police forces information on the Internet activity of their customers.

Police will require a warrant to obtain that information. But the bill would also permit them to obtain IP addresses (which identifies someone on the Internet), email addresses, mobile phone numbers and other information without any warrant.

Ann Cavoukian, Ontario’s privacy watchdog, is fiercely opposed to the legislation, which she calls “surveillance by design.” Federal Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart and other provincial privacy commissioners have also raised concerns.

But when Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia attacked the Conservatives for “preparing to read Canadians' emails and track their movements through cellphone signals” – which does appear to be a severe distortion of the bill’s powers – Mr. Toews’s counterattack was fierce.

“As technology evolves, many criminal activities, such as the distribution of child pornography, become much easier,” he told the House. “We are proposing to bring measures to bring our laws into the 21st century and to provide police with the lawful tools that they need.

“He can either stand with us or with the child pornographers.”

During the 2004 election campaign, the Conservatives issued and then quickly withdrew a press release suggesting then-prime minister Paul Martin supports child pornography because his government wasn’t, in the eyes of Conservatives, sufficiently tough on crime.When confronted by reporters, Mr. Harper refused to back down. “I'm not going to, in any way, give the Liberal Party any break in its record on child pornography,” the Conservative Leader maintained. “It is disgraceful, they have had multiple opportunities to do something about it, and they have refused.”

Mr. Martin leapt at the gaffe. “Look, this is personal. I am a father and I am a husband, and he has crossed the line. He should apologize,” he maintained. Many observers credit the exchange with a last-minute surge that returned the Liberals to office in a minority government.

Now, it would appear, the Conservatives are once again lumping opponents of their law-and-order program in with pedophiles and pornographers.

Ms. Stoddart and Ms. Cavoukian have indicated they will wait to see the legislation Tuesday before offering comment.

Mr. Toews should go one step further. Any household with children should be equipped with a camera system that the police should access to ensure that children are not molested. Starting with the PM's house (NOTE: I DO NOT MEAN TO IMPLY WRONGDOING BY THE PM). No warrant would be needed. Of course, failure by Mr. Toews to implement such a measure would prove he sides with dirty dads and uncles against children, right?

As far as Toews goes.. he was always a hypocrite, he's a self proclaimed christian family man always speaking of the traditional family..traditional family in Toewsland must be cheating on your wife with a woman 30 years younger and getting her pregnant

Does anyone also remember him being charged by elections Canada in Manitoba?

As Canadians, in theory we stand on the moral high ground when it comes to freedom of information, but in reality, we have a draconian regime that will say anything (including accusing critics of being child pornographers) to control the message.

Well, that's the trouble with being a blind partisan. When something is true about your side you can't say anything!

Vic has been around for years. I just read the Wiki page about him. Grew up in a missionary family and entered the merged CPC from the PC side of things, rather than Reform. Sort of puts the lie to the accusations that the hardline social conservatives were all Reformers, doesn't it?

Anyhow, I am rather surprised that Harper has let such an obvious social conservative wield such power. Vic has a history of pushing the envelope a bit harder than necessary. He never seems to take easy small steps towards his goals, to minimize the opposition. Rather, he will swat a fly with a sledge hammer!

Whatever, while he serves as a counterweight to a very leftist judicial system he seems unnecessarily antagonistic. He also does NOT represent mainstream Canadian social views! This allows the possibility of a voter backfire on issues such hardline punishment for marijuana while ignoring areas like child pornography or pedophilia.

IOW, sooner or later Vic could easily cost Harper more votes than he gains! I always thought Harper was smarter than that! Still, by letting Vic be the "front man" Harper can always step in and rescind something, killing it and then throwing Toews to the wolves to take the blame.

I've been arguing for a long time now on MLW that the CPC approach to drug laws has been seriously out of step with mainstream voter sentiment. I believe that the CPC is handing a gun to the opposition parties that they can shoot the Tories with next election. What's more, Toews is attacking a trivial target and ignoring much bigger ones, which means the backfire risk is totally unnecessary.

These are very strange political tactics, indeed! Preston Manning would never have made such a bonehead mistake!

"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul."

-- George Bernard Shaw

"There is no point in being difficult when, with a little extra effort, you can be completely impossible."